|

MORE!

Gallery

PHOENIX -- Every day, thousands of kids make the decision to experiment with drugs for the first time. And the average age a child will first try drugs is 13.

The statistics are scary. But now one local company is trying to help parents keep tabs on what their kids are doing. The non-profit organization "notMYkid", in partnership with Rural/Metro and First Check, is handing out free at-home drug testing kits to parents in 15 U.S. markets, including metro-Phoenix.

Through years of experience, notMYkid has found utilizing a drug test in the home helps youth avoid peer pressure situations by empowering them to say: “No, I can’t, my parents might drug test me.”

On Thursday's Good Morning Arizona, Yetta Gibson found out that this push is coming in advance of April 20, which has been dubbed as 420/national “Get High” day.

"For many of our kids, on Saturday, they're going to get high for the first time," says Debbie Moak, founder of notMYkid and a mother who faced her own teen son's addiction.

"I've been there", says Moak. "I understand how quickly a kid can get pulled in to a world they don't know or understand exists."

Having a drug test kit in the house can help act as a deterrent for kids to try drugs. "It's an out," says Moak. "A real way for a kid to say no to their peers and not have to start down this path."

The organization will be handing out 3,600 home test kits across the nation.

Moak showed some of the concealment items sold in so-called "head shops." Those items can be used to hide drug paraphernelia. and they include seemingly innocent-looking lipsticks, soda cans, and boxes of salt.

"When I was in these head shops yesterday, I saw minor kids there," says Moak. "Had to be as young as middle school in some cases."

Valley parents can go to one of seven locations to pick up kits. The locations are listed below, and can also be found on notMYkid.org.